EE,
the UK's sole 4G mobile network, has
revealed prices for iPad users wanting to use its high-speed
network for data only.

Owners of a current-gen iPad, which includes 4G LTE support, can
get 5GB of data per month for £15.99 on a 30-day rolling
contract.

This stands as a compelling offer in my opinion, given that EE's
data packages on mobile phone contracts have been received by
many, myself included, as underwhelming.

Tablet shoppers can also buy the iPad itself -- both iPad Mini and full-size -- from EE with a contract to boot.
CNET UK has usefully totalled the cost of ownership of
these products but deemed them "pricey", advising it's cheaper to
buy the iPad from Apple and simply buy the SIM-only contract from
EE.

I'm still disappointed by EE, which I was planning on leaving my
contract on Three for, but changed my mind once I saw the price
plans. EE positions itself as the network for people who want a
modern mobile data experience, but either charges a prohibitive
premium for it or caps the amount of data that can be used at
extremely low levels.

It includes unlimited calls and texts with all its contracts,
which is confusing for a network that's meant to be primarily about
data. The cheapest standard contract costs £36 a month and includes
just 500MB of data within a 24-month contract. You can chomp
through 500MB of data with just an hour on BBC iPlayer. What's the
point in having mobile data that's as fast as your home broadband
if you have to strictly limit yourself with its usage?

The offer of data-only for the iPad is a step in the right
direction. For users such as myself who find EE's network
desperately attractive but find that it prices calls and data with
upside-down logic, it should double that data allowance to 10GB,
offer add-ons for calls and texts, and price the whole package at
around the £30-per-month mark. This would get me to move over, and
I suspect others would follow.

Edited by Olivia Solon

Comments

i agree with you. 4G was suppose to make things faster yet cheaper to run. and so far its a massive pile of crap in my eyes.

Liam

Dec 8th 2012

Same here, I'm going to wait for the other carriers to get 4G next year. I wonder how many other potential customers they've lost because of this

Stu

Dec 10th 2012

Must be going daft as i cannot see anywhere on the Orange or EE site them offering 5Gb per month on a 30 day contract.